Bouteloua radicosa grows on dry, rocky slopes at 1000-3000 m, from Arizona
and southern New Mexico to southern Mexico. It has also become established in
Maine, growing in disturbed habtiats, but is not common there.

Bouteloua radicosa frequently grows with B.
repens at lower elevations, but extends higher than that species. Like
B. repens, B. radicosa exhibits great variation in spikelet and
inflorescence characters. Gould (1979) suggested that some of the variation
in B. radicosa was due to hybridization with B. repens in the
Flora area and B. williamsii Swallen in southern Mexico. This
hypothesis has not been tested.